Hailing from a family of traditional patachitra artists, and second son of the well known Bahar Chitrakar, thirty-six year old Seramuddin Chitrakar is an extremely talented scroll painter or patua.

He belongs to the Naya school of patuas (West Medinipur) and started learning his art from the time he was five or six. He began by helping his father with his patachitras. Starting with adding a blob of colour here and there, under his father`s watchful eye, he graduated to finishing pictures for his father. Winning the approval of his father, he was gradually allowed to accompany his father to the annual folk fairs in Kolkata. He also received instruction from his renowned maternal grandfather, the late Pulin Chitrakar, who taught him to accentuate the finer details.

Before long, the extremely creative Seramuddin started working on his own patachitras - in the "Bangla" pata style with a hint of Kalighat. For several years now, he has also been incorporating experimental ideas in his work, though staying within the traditional framework. For instance, he fuses several themes into a single painting sometimes - resulting in a scroll with a combination of Durga and Manosha related imagery. Instead of the traditional floral borders on a scroll, Seramuddin sometimes uses animal motifs. His highly detailed, intricately painted duo toned (beige and black) patachitras, sometimes accented with bits of red, have won him great appreciation. It is these extremely eye catching patas that he enjoys creating the most.

Seramuddin`s mantra is quality rather than quantity - and this is clearly visible in his large format patachitras. His aim is to emulate his equally talented elder brother Shahajan Chitrakar, who paints long scrolls. A few of his long Ramayan scrolls have been picked up by museums. He usually does smaller chouko pots on request and of course, like his brethren, also paints on T shirts, hand fans and other such small items. He has participated in important fairs across India and won a district award in 2012. His first major award was from Rabindra Bharati University in 2015.

Family circumstances did not allow Seramuddin to study beyond class V, but he and his elder brother, between them have ensured that their younger brothers were able to get an education. Seramuddin`s sons too attend school. The elder, Ashiq, now 15, has already begun to display talent, both in his painting and singing. Seramuddin himself has learnt many songs from his father, but it his painting skills that sets this patua apart.

In these troubled times, and particularly with the double whammy of both the Coronavirus and the Amphan cyclone that just ravaged many districts of West Bengal, Seramuddin is relieved that their village has not been devastated and that their scrolls are safe. While patachitra sales have come to a standstill since the March 23rd, 2020 lockdown, Seramuddin stoically looks upon this period as an opportunity to stock up on his paintings and has been painting continuously. And since traditionally, patuas unfailingly document events that have touched their lives through their art, Seramuddin has been busy creating a "Corona pot", a scroll of about 8 feet in length.